Selection Criteria

The Oxford Spring School welcomes committed graduate students and researchers who will benefit from our advanced training in quantitative and qualitative methods. Applications to study on our courses will be evaluated by the co-directors.

We expect participants to have a basic knowledge of:

Maths (Calculus; Linear Algebra; Matrix Algebra)

Statistics (Descriptive Statistics; OLS)

Data (Measurement and Data Management)

Computing (sound knowledge statistical packages such as R, STATA, SPSS, MatLab) Courses will be taught using Stata or R and diverse datasets. For those without good knowledge of R we will hold a daily walk-in clinic during lunchtime so that participants can ask questions. Lab machines are not available, so students are expected to bring their own laptops (instructions on how to download R will be provided in advance).

In the event of excess demand for places, the following groups will be given some priority:

Those engaged in social science research, especially in Political Science or Sociology.

Those currently engaged in graduate level study.

Those whose experience and preparation will allow them to benefit most from the course.